Taraba: ‘Umar is not being fair to his boss’

Emmanuel Njiwah ran for the presidency in the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993 and the governorship of Taraba State on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform in 2007. He was holding sway as Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in the Danbaba Suntai administration before he, alongside five commissioners and two advisers, were sacked by the Acting Governor Alhaji Garba Umar. In this interview, he speaks on the political impasse and other burning issues in Taraba State. Senior Correspondent, FANEN IHYONGO was there. Excerpts

What led to your removal as the Secretary to the Taraba State Government?

My removal was purely an intrigue of politics. It was far from what I was accused of. There was no correlation between what they said I did and the actual facts on ground. The truth is that after the Governor Danbaba Suntai plane crash on October 25 last year, I visited the injured governor in Germany in January. By this time, the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, had been sworn in as acting governor, according to the dictates of the constitution. Now, after my visit, he also went to Germany and saw the governor. When Umar returned, I noticed quite clearly that he was scheming to supplant our boss, the governor. He thought the governor was permanently incapacitated. But I refused to give in to his demand that I should do a memo to the executive council to kick start the process of booting out Suntai. That is the constitutional provision: I would do an executive memo, directing the executive council to authorise the House of Assembly to set up a medical panel to ascertain the governor’s health. Thereafter, anything could happen. Pressures were mounting on me from Umar’s supporters who wondered why I was not ready to assist their man to become the substantive governor. In fact, by April, the pressure heightened. I was promised the deputy governor’s slot if I could make it happen for Umar. But I didn’t dance to their tune. Somehow, I knew the governor was not permanently incapacitated, and Umar was just blindly ambitious. I have worked with the military where I learnt that loyalty to your principal must be 100 per cent, not even 99.9 percent. So, I am 100 per cent loyal to Governor Suntai. Besides, the governor was not permanently incapacitated. What permanent incapacitation means is that the governor would not recover forever or till the end of his tenure. In this case, the governor was recovering very fast. Thus, I became an obstacle and the best thing for Umar to do was to give me a bad name and hang me.

But your name was mentioned in the flood scandal?

That is the intrigue I told you about. I was not in the committees of purchase and distribution. I was in the main committee chaired by Alhaji Garba Umar himself. There were committees A and B who were given money to buy relief materials for the flood victims. Our [main] committee wasn’t given any money and the deputy governor is there to bear me witness. Go and ask him if he gave me a kobo of that flood fund. But I can point to some people he is having now in his fake cabinet, who lobbied for contracts from the flood fund for their wives and relatives. He is with them now in his government. I never lobbied for any contract from the committees.

So, why have you been quiet after all the alleged false accusations?

I am not quiet. We are in court. Immediately we went to court, Umar sent two people to me not to go to court. But we went ahead because we have to clear our names.

Say the truth, do you think Danbaba Suntai would ever return and continue as governor, because there are alleged moves to ensure Umar is sworn in as substantive governor?

Why not? Governor Suntai is getting better every day. He is already back and if not for the machinations of Umar, he should fully resume now. We are aware of all the moves to remove Suntai but we are resisting it, because he is well. This was why Garba used some members of the House of Assembly to say they don’t recognise the governor’s notification of return. This was why he removed the Suntai loyalists from the leadership of the House of Assembly and planted his men there. This is why we were called thieves and sacked. It is a master plan or road map that he is executing now. We knew his plans from start to finish. Governor Suntai is fit to rule. An American president ruled from a wheel chair. So, what is the hullabaloo that the governor is not fit to rule? The governor can make full use of all his faculties. So, what is anyone saying?

Do you think there is a religious or ethnic dimension to the political crisis?

Ethnic, a big no, but religion, a capital yes! It is a well known fact that Garba Umar, being a Muslim, wants to institute an Islamic State in Taraba State. There are inscriptions in various parts of Jalingo suggesting an Islamic agenda by Umar. Nigeria does not operate on the basis of a Christian or Muslim state. When Suntai held sway, he never dubbed Taraba a Christian state, because Taraba state consists of Muslims, Christians and animists. So, if Umar rules on the basis of being chosen by God to lead a plural state, fine. But there is great danger when you try to pin a religion on the state. And if he is going about trying to gain the sympathy of other Muslims outside the state, he is going about it wrongly. Taraba is a secular state like other states in Nigeria. Governor Danbaba Suntai did not discriminate against the religions.

He built the Secretariats of the two great faiths -Christians and Muslims in Jalingo and invited the Sultan of Sokoto and CAN President to co-commission the edifices. Suntai gave them equal treatment. I do not know where this has been done in Nigeria. Today, Umar is not being fair to his boss who was totally fair to both faiths. He is going about calling himself the acting governor when the governor is around.

If religion is such a factor, how can you explain the fact that some Christian members of the House of Assembly are supporting Umar and even want him to replace Suntai, who is a Christian?

You see some things are better not said. The fact is that massive funds are at work in the House of Assembly. Garba Umar is manipulating some of the members.

What is the wider implication of this crisis as the state goes to the poll in 2015?

Let me start with some basic facts. Taraba is a heterogeneous state with many ethnic groups. A state with 2.5 million people, we have a unique experience of religious harmony. If you go to any homestead in Taraba, you will find members of all the faiths co-habiting. But Graba Umar does not understand this. He is a stranger in the state. He was born in Makurdi and grew up largely outside Taraba. He then worked like all of his life at the UTC where he was living outside the state. He finally settled in Jos. After the crisis there he relocated to Gombe State. So he just came to our state brandishing religion. He doesn’t know that in Taraba, we don’t mix politics with religion.

It is a taboo. Suntai is a devote Christian but his wife is a Muslim. His elder sister is also a Muslim. He has brothers and cousins who are Muslims. He lives with them. In my family I have Muslims who don’t see me as a Christian and I don’t discriminate against them either. We can die for one another, because we are one family. Even in my tribe, that is the way we are.

But Garba came from nowhere and started whipping up religious sentiments. He goes about trying to get the support of Muslims outside the state as if he is on a religious mission.

So, no one should support him on religious grounds.

What is your view on General TY Danjuma referring to Umar as deputy governor?

That is the right interpretation by the constitution; he is the deputy governor. You see, the good General does not want to be dragged into all of these. But he knows the constitution and he wouldn’t do anything otherwise.

Recently, your House of Assembly went ahead to screen commissioner nominees in spite of a court order restraining them. What is your view on that?

It is unfortunate, but then it is part of a long string of lawlessness and unconstitutional acts going on in Taraba. For a government to blatantly disobey court orders is something else. But then worse things had happened before that. He removed the leadership of the House of Assembly and instituted a docile one. He sacked me and some commissioners and special advisers on trumped up charges. He later said he won’t recognise the letter transmitted by his boss. He was also caught using the governor’s letter head paper.

What is the way out of all these crises?

The House of Assembly. It is as simple as that. They were the ones who started the Taraba crisis, especially the constitutional issues. It is they who can resolve it. Then of course the judiciary who would soon give the necessary interpretation on what the law says about this.

The acting governor has maintained that he is protecting the governor from a cabal that is trying to rule the state by proxy and steal the money he has saved.

That is laughable. Umar is not protecting the governor or saving anything. He is trying to unseat the governor.